Gold

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Arab scholars described Ghana as a fabled "land of gold." Gold was especially plentiful in areas to the south of Ghana. One of the king’s gold nuggets is said to have weighed almost forty pounds. According to legend, another was large enough to be used as a hitching post for his horse.

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Salt

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To West Africans, salt was more precious than gold. Their culture had little use for gold, except as an item for trade. They had to get it from the Sahara Desert. When people and animals sweat, they lose salt. People who live in hot climates, like West Africa, sweat a lot and must replace the salt they lose. West Africans also needed salt to keep their food from spoiling and to give to their cattle.

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Sahara Desert

The Sahara is the largest HOT desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. African would use camels to trade across the harsh environment. The trans-Saharan caravan routes began in North Africa along the northwestern border of the Sahara. From there they stretched across the desert, passed through Ghana, and continued south to the Gulf of Guinea and east to present-day Chad.

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Camels

Camels were first brought to the Sahara by Arab traders around 300 BC These animals are well suited for desert travel. A camel can drink up to forty gallons of water at a time. As a result, it can travel several days in the desert without stopping. Also, camels have double rows of eyelashes and hairy ear openings that help keep out blowing sand.

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Iron Weapons

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Historians do not know for certain how Ghana developed into an empire. Possibly, a group of warriors used iron weapons to defeat their neighbors. In fact, the word Ghana means "war chief."

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Griots

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Oral traditions date back many centuries. In West Africa, griots (GREE ohz), or professional storytellers, recited ancient stories. The griots preserved both histories and traditional folk tales in the same way that the epics of Homer were passed orally from generation to generation. The histories praised the heroic deeds of famous ancestors or kings. The folk tales, which blended fanciful stories with humor and sophisticated wordplay, taught important moral lessons.

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Cowrie Shells

Despite the fact that Africa was rich in gold, that was not their only form of currency. A popular type of money was the cowrie shell. Cowrie shells, which are sea shells that come from the Indian Ocean, have been used as a currency longer, by more people and over a greater geographic area than precious metals. In central Africa it was still possible to pay your taxes in cowries in the early 1900s and to purchase small items at market well into the 1950s.

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Ibn Battuta

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Ibn Battuta was the greatest medieval Muslim traveler and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the Riḥlah (Travels). His great work describes his extensive travels covering some 75,000 miles (far more than Marco Polo) in trips to almost all of the Muslim countries and as far as China and Sumatra (now part of Indonesia).

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Arab scholars described Ghana as a fabled "land of gold." Gold was especially plentiful in areas to the south of Ghana. One of the king’s gold nuggets is said to have weighed almost forty pounds. According to legend, another was large enough to be used as a hitching post for his horse.

To West Africans, salt was more precious than gold. Their culture had little use for gold, except as an item for trade. They had to get it from the Sahara Desert. When people and animals sweat, they lose salt. People who live in hot climates, like West Africa, sweat a lot and must replace the salt they lose. West Africans also needed salt to keep their food from spoiling and to give to their cattle.

Historians do not know for certain how Ghana developed into an empire. Possibly, a group of warriors used iron weapons to defeat their neighbors. In fact, the word Ghana means "war chief."

Camels were first brought to the Sahara by Arab traders around 300 BC These animals are well suited for desert travel. A camel can drink up to twenty-five gallons of water at a time. As a result, it can travel several days in the desert without stopping. Also, camels have double rows of eyelashes and hairy ear openings that help keep out blowing sand.

Despite the fact that Africa was rich in gold, that was not their only form of currency. A popular type of money was the cowrie shell. Cowrie shells, which are sea shells that come from the Indian Ocean, have been used as a currency longer, by more people and over a greater geographic area than precious metals. In central Africa it was still possible to pay your taxes in cowries in the early 1900s and to purchase small items at market well into the 1950s.

Oral traditions date back many centuries. In West Africa, griots (GREE ohz), or professional storytellers, recited ancient stories. The griots preserved both histories and traditional folk tales in the same way that the epics of Homer were passed orally from generation to generation. The histories praised the heroic deeds of famous ancestors or kings. The folk tales, which blended fanciful stories with humor and sophisticated wordplay, taught important moral lessons.

The Sahara is the largest HOT desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. African would use camels to trade across the harsh environment. The trans-Saharan caravan routes began in North Africa along the northwestern border of the Sahara. From there they stretched across the desert, passed through Ghana, and continued south to the Gulf of Guinea and east to present-day Chad.

Ibn Battuta was the greatest medieval Muslim traveler and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the Riḥlah (Travels). His great work describes his extensive travels covering some 75,000 miles (far more than Marco Polo in trips to almost all of the Muslim countries and as far as China and Sumatra (now part of Indonesia).